The S&P 500 briefly crossed into negative territory after hitting a roughly two-month high earlier in the session, but was back on track for its fourth straight day of gains.

On Sunday, Trump vowed to help ZTE “get back into business, fast” nearly a month after the Commerce Department implemented a ban on U.S. companies selling to the company.

Trump’s reversal came as high-level trade talks between the world’s two largest economies were due to resume this week after Washington’s tough stance on trade and tariffs put the countries on track for a potential trade war.

“It seems like there’s a little less concern about a trade war with China given some of the overtures that President Trump made,” said Chuck Carlson, chief executive officer at Horizon Investment Services in Hammond, Indiana. “They’re hoping for a dying down of the trade war rhetoric and, quite frankly, they’re probably looking for some successful deals (to be) made.”

At 2:44PM ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 69.95 points, or 0.28 percent, to 24,901.12, the S&P 500 gained 1.89 points, or 0.07 percent, to 2,729.61 and the Nasdaq Composite added 11.69 points, or 0.16 percent, to 7,414.57.

With 91 percent of S&P 500 companies having reported first-quarter results, earnings were on track to have climbed 26.1 percent, according to Thomson Reuters data.

“It was expected to be good and it was good,” Carlson said. “The issue ... that the market’s still grappling with is are these earnings creating such a high hurdle for future earnings.”

Of the 11 major sectors in the S&P 500, defensive utilities , telecoms and real estate stocks were the among the biggest percentage losers. Energy and healthcare saw the largest gains.

U.S. optical component maker stocks received a boost from the ZTE news, with Acacia Communications up 9.1 percent and Oclaro Inc and Lumentum Holdings Inc advancing 4.5 percent and 2.3 percent, respectively.

Shares of defense contractors such as Raytheon, Lockheed Martin Corp and Northrop Grumman Corp weighed on the markets, as investors pointed to easing geopolitical tensions.